Gary Oldman Quotes

As a drama student I got into Thirties and Forties suits. ~ Gary Oldman

The thing a drama school can't give you is instinct. It can sharpen instinct but that can't be taught, and you have to have intuition. It's an essential ingredient. ~ Gary Oldman

Rather like Batman, I embody the themes of the movie which are the values of family, courage and compassion and a sense of right and wrong, good and bad and justice. ~ Gary Oldman

I like celluloid, I like film, I like the way that when a movie is projected it sort of breathes a little in the gate. That's the magic of it to me. ~ Gary Oldman

I like a cheese and pickle. Nice cheese and pickle on a real old-fashioned bread. Ploughman's lunch. ~ Gary Oldman

I just think political correctness is crap. ~ Gary Oldman

I took a bit of a back seat, I had kids and I wanted to focus on them. There's that period in the late '90s, the early 2000s, where I didn't do a great deal. ~ Gary Oldman

In the past, I've had my share of good reviews, but it's always the crazy, scary, weirdo guy. I don't even know how it happened. Look at me. I mean, when I'm naked, I look like a bald chicken. How did I get to be a scary bad guy? ~ Gary Oldman

But you see, I have played more good guys than I have played villains. ~ Gary Oldman

What's fascinating is that when you write a script, it's almost a stream of consciousness. You have an idea that it means something, but you're not always sure what. Then when you get on the set, the actors teach you. ~ Gary Oldman

At 23 it was all about acting. Today it's getting my kids to school, making sure that they've done their homework. I'm in my fifties, and I'm turning into a square. ~ Gary Oldman

I was never really that interested in the punk movement. I was a blues guy: I liked Motown, James Brown. ~ Gary Oldman

I understand that when Gary Oldman was in that suit [Batman], sweat would just drip off of him where they had to have holes in the gloves or something. ~ Morgan Freeman

How do you remember all those lines? By forgetting everything else. ~ Gary Oldman

I don't see a great difference between someone sending a robot or a drone to bomb people and controlling it on a PlayStation from another country. It's thousands of miles away as opposed to someone in an airplane who is thousands of feet away releasing a bomb. ~ Gary Oldman

Overall I enjoy a certain anonymity. I live a very normal, very ordinary life. ~ Gary Oldman

Speaking very generally, I find that women are spiritually, emotionally, and often physically stronger than men. ~ Gary Oldman

By the way, the Harry Potter series is literature, in spite of what some people might say. The way J.K. Rowling worked that world out is quite something. ~ Gary Oldman

And costume is so important for an actor. It absolutely helps to get into character; it's the closest thing to you, it touches you. Some actors like to go into make-up and then put their clothes on, but I like to dress first; that's my routine. ~ Gary Oldman

I applaud anything that can take a kid away from a PlayStation or a Gameboy. That is a miracle in itself. ~ Gary Oldman

I was quiet, a loner. I was one of those children where, if you put me in a room and gave me some crayons and a pencils, you wouldn't hear from me for nine straight hours. And I was always drawing racing cars and rockets and spaceships and planes, things that were very fast that would take me away. ~ Gary Oldman

I like these calm little moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven ~ Gary Oldman

When you play a character that is so emotionally closed there are times when you ask yourself if you are doing enough and if it's reading. That is where you have a director, who is the barometer of what you are doing. ~ Gary Oldman

You can play older than yourself. You can play younger than yourself up to a point, and then that just becomes impossible because you carry a weight with you that you can't shift, unless you have very boyish looks. ~ Gary Oldman

I've followed Gary Oldman his whole career ... I've watched the movies he's directed, like 'Nil by Mouth' - I've seen that five times! ~ Joel Kinnaman

A lazy man works twice as hard. My mother told that to me, and now I say it to my kids. If you're writing an essay, keep it in the lines and in the margins so you don't have to do it over. ~ Gary Oldman

Any actor who tells you that they have become the people they play, unless they're clearly diagnosed as a schizophrenic, is bullshitting you. ~ Gary Oldman

You know, the blond guy plays the good guy and I play the bad part, the bad guys. Which is a lot of fun. Playing the bad guy is great. And it's the whole British thing. You know, in so many films the bad guy is British. Gary Oldman makes a living doing that. ~ Matt Robinson

I'm probably a Libertarian, if I had to put myself in any category. But you don't come out and talk about these things, for obvious reasons. ~ Gary Oldman

There will always be spies. We have to have them. Without them we wouldn't have got Osama bin Laden - it took us years, but it happened. ~ Gary Oldman

I was brought up by my mother and my two sisters, although they're older than me and fled the nest very young, so I was technically raised as an only child, but I was very much loved. ~ Gary Oldman

I like men who are very cool but who are also so brilliant that they are almost insane. Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits - men who would be flipping burgers if they hadn't found an outlet for their brilliant mind-sets. ~ Jolene Blalock

I tend to read non-fiction. ~ Gary Oldman

I don't really watch much TV. I watch old movies and stuff like that, so I'm not up to date. My favorite vampire movie would definitely have to be the one with Gary Oldman [Dracula]. ~ Steven R. McQueen

On set I keep myself to myself; I'd rather the director speak up. I'm not gonna direct a younger actor. I think the power of example works best, actually. ~ Gary Oldman

There's a slew of actors that I'd love to work with. I'd love to work with Gary Oldman. He seems like not only a solid dude and a good man, but a pretty inspired actor. ~ John Pyper-Ferguson

I got obsessed with classical music, I got obsessed with Chopin, with playing the piano. ~ Gary Oldman

People who know me, they know I have a sense of humor, I'm a bit of a joker, a bit of a clown really, and I would love someone to exploit that side of me and send me a romantic comedy. ~ Gary Oldman

Growing up in a particular neighborhood, growing up in a working-class family, not having much money, all of those things fire you and can give you an edge, can give you an anger. ~ Gary Oldman

We're given a code to live our lives by. We don't always follow it, but it's still there. ~ Gary Oldman

I want my weekends off and I want to put my kids to bed. Those are good reasons to want to be in 'Batman 2'. ~ Gary Oldman

How many movies do you see when you can say this director really knew what film he wanted to make? I can count them on the fingers of one hand. ~ Gary Oldman

I grew up in Deptford in south London, and at that time I used to wear toppers, loon pants and tonic suits from shops like Take 6 and Topman. I was a bit of a soul boy, but I had a very eclectic taste in music - I was into James Brown and Bowie; and I was the only kid in the neighbourhood who would also be listening to Chopin. ~ Gary Oldman

Interesting things come your way but as you get older, your lifestyle changes. I don't want to travel; I don't want to be in a hotel room away from my family. ~ Gary Oldman

I know I'm pretty, but I ain't as pretty as a couple of titties. ~ Gary Oldman

You choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. ~ Gary Oldman

I'm a big fan of character actors like Johnny Depp and Gary Oldman. My goal is to continue playing character roles in indie films and move into playing character leads. ~ Thomas Ian Nicholas

There are a lot of actors whom I love, who personalize their work. I want to know everything about them, like De Niro, like Gary Oldman. ~ Kevin Corrigan

Reality TV to me is the museum of social decay. ~ Gary Oldman

I've been very lucky at what's happened in my career to date, but playing something as far from me as possible is an ambition of mine - anything from a mutated baddy in a comic book action thriller, to a detective. If anything, I'd like Gary Oldman's career: he's the perfect example of it. I've love to have a really broad sweep of characters - to be able to do something edgy, surprising and unfashionable. ~ Benedict Cumberbatch

You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it's Gary Oldman crying; it's not the character crying. ~ Gary Oldman

My big love was the Beatles. I was more into music. ~ Gary Oldman

I did have a knack for playing weirdos. There's still sort of this perception of me out there as being this crazy guy. ~ Gary Oldman

If one could have a wish, or an alternative life, I would've liked to have been John Lennon. ~ Gary Oldman

It's funny: I'm a lifelong musician, but because I principally play the piano it's been a solitary thing. ~ Gary Oldman

I enjoy playing characters where the silence is loud. ~ Gary Oldman

I wanted to play Dracula because I wanted to say: 'I've crossed oceans of time to find you.' It was worth playing the role just to say that line. ~ Gary Oldman

Over the years, I have been asked to play these sort of scary frenetic characters that express their emotions physically. ~ Gary Oldman

I love watching Samuel L. Jackson do anything, but for me, Gary Oldman is the grandmaster of the game. ~ Joel Kinnaman

Well, I needed the work - that's the honest answer. I haven't worked for a while, a couple of years. So I thought it would be nice to get back to work and earn some money. ~ Gary Oldman

I went and lived in Chicago for a year , and I studied at the police academy. ~ Gary Oldman

'Nil By Mouth' was a bit autobiographical, but as I always pointed out at the time, that's not my dad. ~ Gary Oldman

My passion and energy get mistaken for anger. ~ Gary Oldman

Shakespeare doesn't really write subtext, you play the subtext. ~ Gary Oldman

Being an actor is a good way to earn a living. And to meet fabulous people. It's great to live very comfortably. I've been lucky, I've had a lot of fun with great roles, but it is true that if I were extremely rich, I would stop and I would go to play football on a beach in the Caribbean with my children. ~ Gary Oldman

There are so many people I would love to work with, like Al Pacino, Paul Newman, Gary Oldman - maybe Tom Cruise. I wanna play his brother in something - so call my agent! ~ Scott Wolf

Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that. ~ Gary Oldman

The actors I respect are the real character actors, who are the real chameleon actors that completely change from role to role. I love Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness and Gary Oldman. They tend to be British, I guess. People who really disappear and transform, I really like that. ~ Fran Kranz

At the Oscars, if you didn't vote for '12 Years a Slave,' you were a racist. You have to be very careful about what you say. I do have particular views and opinions that most of this town doesn't share, but it's not like I'm a fascist or a racist. There's nothing like that in my history. ~ Gary Oldman

The building of America has had its fair share of mistakes, but it's a constitution that's the jewel of democracy, the envy of many, and it's the most generous nation in the world. ~ Gary Oldman

I still don't have a publicist. If I'm in a film, you have an obligation to promote it, I'll do as much as I can. ~ Gary Oldman

There's no handbook for parenting. So you walk a very fine line as a parent because you are civilizing these raw things. They will tip the coffee over and finger-paint on the table. At some point, you have to say, 'We're gonna have to clean that up because you don't paint with coffee on a table.' ~ Gary Oldman

When I decided that I might want to do acting for a living - I don't know where it really came from, since there was no school play or any of that - my mom gave me her blessing. I had to get a scholarship - that was the only way I could have gone to drama school. ~ Gary Oldman

Actors like Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman, they totally immerse themselves in their parts. ~ Sean Bean

The great thing about having been in a lot of make-up, and stuff like that, is that when you're working with someone who's in it, and you've been there and done it, but you're not in it anymore, you feel so good. ~ Gary Oldman

I don't go to premieres. I don't go to parties. I don't covet the Oscar. I don't want any of that. I don't go out. I just have dinner at home every night with my kids. Being famous, that's a whole other career. And I haven't got any energy for it. ~ Gary Oldman

I stole a lot from Gary Oldman. I stole the hairdo from his incarnation of Dracula. We cheated it just enough, so we couldn't get accused of copyright infringement. ~ Justin Theroux

Culturally, politically, everywhere you look ... Read the newspaper. Go online. Our world has gone to hell. ~ Gary Oldman

The great thing about Google is that you type in neuro-surgery and somehow you end up with Peter Sellers or watching Frank Sinatra. Google is a great resource. ~ Gary Oldman

I love the simple poetry of theater, where you can stand in a spotlight on a stage and wrap a coat around you, and say, 'It was 1860 and it was winter ... ' ~ Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman is my TV hero. The incredible thing about Gary Oldman is his versatility. ~ Andrew-Lee Potts

It's a shame about California, and particularly about L.A., where they've demolished so many landmarks. It's a bit of a disease there, where if anything is over 30 years old, they sort of knock it down and replace it. It's a strange town, it's this sprawling suburb, and then there's a city, the old town. ~ Gary Oldman

To be able to do this job in the first place you've got to have a bit of an ego. ~ Gary Oldman

I'm still a member of the Empire! Although I sometimes feel like an American with a British accent - you get contaminated after so long. ~ Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman is impossible to steal a movie from. He's such a great actor, he's off the hook. I love him. ~ Kevin Bacon

The next time you feel unworthy, inadequate or inferior, remember that these experiences have nothing to do with humbleness, any more than lowering yourself to connect with another individual has to do with humbleness. There are no lower or higher individuals in the perception of a humble person. There are only souls. There is only love. ~ Gary Zukav

We must empower our weak to be strong, and teach our strong to be compassionate. This will open a door to oneness. ~ Gary Hopkins

Oil the saw, sharpen axes,
Learn the names of all the peaks you see and which is highest-
there are hundreds-
Learn by heart the drainages between
Go find a shallow pool of snowmelt on a good day, bathe in the lukewarm water. ~ Gary Snyder

I hate to repeat lines, to say the same damned thing. I try to rewrite cliches and make what I say sound fresh. ~ Gary McCord

Obesity is caused by the kind of calories we consume and not the quantity, and so if we avoid carbohydrates our bodies function correctly and shed any excess weight. ~ Gary Taubes

God's love enables us to minister to others beyond what we feel capable of doing. - Kathleen Kohler - ~ Gary Chapman

Taking risks, breaking the rules, and being a maverick have always been important but today they are more crucial than ever. ~ Gary Hamel

Ethnic diversity adds richness to a society. ~ Gary Locke

I think they are grooming me as another Gary Cooper. ~ Barry Gibb

The key to enlightenment lies in a secret that very few people have ever known, but which Jesus knew well. The way you will experience and feel about yourself is not determined by how other people look at and think about you. ~ Gary Renard

Whenever there's the experience of a broken heart, there's the experience of fear. ~ Gary Zukav

People try to look for deep meanings in my work. I want to say, 'They're just cartoons, folks. You laugh or you don't.' Gee, I sound shallow. But I don't react to current events or other stimuli. I don't read or watch TV to get ideas. My work is basically sitting down at the drawing table and getting silly. ~ Gary Larson

If you have to beg, then beg. If you have to barter, then barter. If you have to be creative, then be creative. Just don't be a victim of your circumstance. ~ Gary Keller

I have an incomplete album that I want to finish. I have been thinking about the plan during my days in jail, I have sung rock n' roll for forty years. After jail, I will continue to rock n' roll. ~ Gary Glitter

If you're not putting out relevant content in relevant places, you don't exist. ~ Gary Vaynerchuk